For much of the past year, Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, has derided United Nations peacekeeping as a wasteful and unworthy boondoggle. That culminated in his release of a 2026 budget proposal that eliminated all funding in a State Department account that funds operations of the Nobel Prize-winning blue helmets.
But in recent weeks, Vought and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have signed off on the provision of some $400 million to help underwrite the costs of peacekeeping missions in Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a New York-based official familiar with the situation. The U.S., meanwhile, has agreed to pay its share of the costs of standing up and running a 5,500-strong Gang Suppression Force in Haiti, an operation that is expected to cost several hundred million dollars to run each year.
It remains unclear exactly how much the Haiti mission will cost, but a previous proposal to set up a U.N. logistical hub for a Kenyan-led police force in Haiti of half the size was estimated at $300 million, according to a U.N. source. In the end, that mission only attracted about 1,000 uniformed personnel. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear, according to U.N. observers: The White House is seeking to exert more control over which U.N. peacekeeping missions get U.S. funding, and which don’t.
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
